BJP seeks postponement of April 17 poll date in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Karnataka BJP unit today asked the Election Commission to postpone the April 17 Lok Sabha poll in the state in view of a series of holidays which may hit voting percentage.

The BJP has sought postponment of the poll from April 17 to April 22 or April 23, state BJP leader Suresh Kumar told reporters here after the party submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Election Commission, to state Chief Electoral officer Anil Kumar Jha.

"This (postponement) will increase the voting percentage in the state," he said.

Kumar said the very purpose of EC to attract many people to the polling booths gets defeated if the election was conducted on April 17, as the next three days are followed by holidays in view of Good Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Added to this, April 14 was Amedkar Jayanti and if two more days leave is applied for (by employees on April 15 and 16), totally eight days holidays will be in effect," Kumar explained. The series of holidays in the poll week may encourage employees and others to hit holiday destinations forcing them to abstain from voting, Kumar argued. Since Karnataka has the highest number of IT and BT population who work five days a week, the BJP fears that the voting percentage may take a hit, Kumar said.